Evidence FOR secularisation

Science

• Scientific knowledge has highered living standards
• scientific factual explanations for phenomena such as earthqaukes and illnesses.

Thus science has replaced religous infulence.

• Turner- Medicine means poewple no longer need to turn to the church for help when ill, even if people are religious they still tend to rely on medical profession to provide explanations.
• Lash & Gellner- See phycotherapy as a more scientific way to cure innerself than religion can.
• Weber - Just says that disenchantment has occured where the modern world has lost religious faith and beleif. 

Disengaging from politics and society

• Churhc is no longer involved in politics
• Wilson- says religion used to be the centre of people value systems but NOW people are more interested in material wealth.
• Differentiation- Society is becoming more specialised, reliios institutions lose more functions as generations go on e.g. education no longer has such an important educational factor.

More than one

• Competition between all the different religious movements undermine the credability of all of them. some poeople are seen to reject reliigon all together.
• Only a small proportion of people have joined New Religious Movements.
• Bruce- Industrialisation has fragmented society and created a market place of religion.
• Religion is no longer one unifying force.

Census for Church Attendance

1851- 40% of population attended church

1950- 20% of population attended church

2000- 7.5% of population attended church

There has been a huge decline in the Membership of Churches

Big religious institutions such asThe Church of England and Catholic Church memberships have decloned badly

1900- Membership was 27% of the population

2000- Membership was at 10% of the population

So did Sunday schools

1900- 55% of population attended Sunday school

2000- 4% of population attended Sunday school

Brierly- Says that there is a worrying future for christianity due to the age bias of members, as fewer young people are attending church.

He comlpted English surveys on 3 different christian churches on the the percentage of over 65s which attended their services; Anglican, Catholic and Methodist, one was complete in 1979, 1989 and then 1999.

Anglican: 1979 was 19%, 1989 was 22% ands 1999 was 29%

• 30 years ago 3/4 of weddings were church weddings now only half of marraiges are performed in church.
• Rising divorce rate
• Increased cohabitation 
• More children born outside of marraige

Moral infulence of reliogion has declined.

• Number of religious clergy has fallen.
• Pay and satus of clergy has declined.
• Bruce- Says that the size of relious clergy represents the religions social power.

1900 - 45,000 clerics in Britain

2000- 34,000 clerics in Britain

Hamilton suggests that the churches themselves have caused secularisation and less reliogious as they have compromised with their tradtions beleifes and values

Within christianity allowing females vicars.

The preist allowing contraception.